Bill Peck, who was the Ohio Valley Conference coach of the year in 1970, has been an assistant at five Lake County schools

August 6, 2013|By Joe Williams, Orlando Sentinel

MOUNT DORA — A wooden cane in one hand, Bill Peck examines his quarterbacks' footwork as a stopwatch and whistle hang from his neck.

Beginning his 63rd year as a coach, the assistant coach at Mount Dora feels most at home on the field.

"I coach because I think the kids still need me to do it and I need it, too," said Peck, 86. "It helps keep me young.

"I love coaching.''

In his third season on Mount Dora's staff, Peck also has coached at Leesburg, Eustis, Umatilla and Tavares. He speaks in a raspy voice, the effect of smoking cigars and a hit to his throat during his playing days that temporarily paralyzed his vocal cords.

""Three-quarters of his life has been spent coaching," Mount Dora coach Chad Grabowski said. "If he wasn't coaching, like Joe Paterno, he wouldn't be here with us. He needs that interaction."

Said senior quarterback Bryant Mosher: "He gives you that old-school type of football. He doesn't want you to give any excuses."

Peck is believed to be one of the oldest coaches in Central Florida history. He has surpassed Bud Asher, who coached — mostly in Volusia County — for 60 years before retiring in 2009. Asher, 88, died of cancer last month.

Peck keeps going.

In the front yard of Peck's home in Grand Island, a community west of Eustis, an American flag flies from a tree. Just below it is a flag for the 82nd Airborne, the division with which he served during World War II.

A native of Hackensack, N.J., Peck quit high school after his junior year in 1943 to enlist in the Army.

He trained as a demolitions expert, disarming bombs and booby traps left behind when the Japanese fled the Philippines. He was training to parachute into Japan before atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, effectively ending the war.

After his discharge, Peck finished high school and went to Stetson, where he played line on the Hatters' football team. After graduating in 1951, he married his wife, Kathy, and was hired as a offensive line coach at Leesburg.

"The biggest contribution he made was his positive and encouraging attitude," said Vince Fechtel, 77, a former state senator from Leesburg who played tackle under Peck. "He made you work every day, and he was a disciplinarian. He was an excellent example of someone who you would want as a mentor."

Peck coached at five colleges, including five seasons as the head coach at Middle Tennessee State. He was the Ohio Valley Conference's coach of the year in 1970.

Fred Rohrdanz, 61, played quarterback under Peck at Middle Tennessee.

"In 1972, we were playing Western Kentucky," said Rohrdanz, now a Eustis resident. "I would have had to have been blindfolded to throw more interceptions in the first half. I was sure I was going to be pulled at halftime.

"But [Peck] came up to me and said, 'You're the best we've got. Don't you give up on us.' I came out in the second half and threw two long touchdown passes, and we ended up winning. He taught me a lesson to believe in yourself, and that sticks with me to this day."

Not much keeps Peck from coaching, not even a heart attack in 2003 that required quadruple bypass surgery and the installation of a pacemaker. He returned to the field one month later.

That is what Peck, who sees his cardiologist monthly and has had no complications, plans to do for the foreseeable future.

"I have had so many wonderful experiences and am still having them," Peck said.